When the White Sox sent right-hander Jordan Stephens back to Double-A Birmingham to start the season, despite him stringing together a 3.14 ERA with 83 strikeouts and 35 walks in 91 2/3 innings at that level in 2017, it didn’t give him much of an advantage from familiarity.

“I have a pretty bad memory so I don’t remember most of the stadiums or stuff,” Stephens said. “Once I get there I do, but I don’t ever remember anything about them. People keep asking me what I think about this stadium and that stadium since they haven’t been there yet and I’m like, ‘I don’t know man, I don’t remember any of that stuff.’”

It didn’t put much of a chip on his shoulder either. While he was hoping for an assignment to Triple-A Charlotte in the offseason, by the time spring came around, he saw it as simply a numbers game that would keep him in Birmingham for April. On Sunday, the White Sox announced that numbers game would now see the...